Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise
Encyclopedia
Pulkovo Federal State Unified Aviation Service Company (ФГУАП “Пулково”) was an airline with its head office in Moskovsky District
Moskovsky District, Saint Petersburg
Moskovsky District, Saint Petersburg is an administrative and municipal district , one of the 18 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.-Economy:When the airline existed, Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise had its head office in the district....

, Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. It operated the Pulkovo Airport
Pulkovo Airport
Pulkovo Airport is an international airport serving Saint Petersburg, Russia. It consists of two terminals, Pulkovo-1 and Pulkovo-2 , which are located about and south of the city centre, respectively. The airport serves as a hub for Rossiya Airlines , and as focus city for Nordavia...

 and was 100% state owned. It was the third largest airline in Russia. On 29 October 2006 it completed a merger with government owned Federal State Unified Aviation Service Company
Rossiya (airline)
Rossiya Airlines OJSC , operating as Rossiya — Russian Airlines is a secondary national airline with its head office in Saint Petersburg, Russia, resulting from the 2006 merger of the Moscow-based company of the same name and Saint Petersburg-based Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise...

 to form a new company under the Rossiya
Rossiya (airline)
Rossiya Airlines OJSC , operating as Rossiya — Russian Airlines is a secondary national airline with its head office in Saint Petersburg, Russia, resulting from the 2006 merger of the Moscow-based company of the same name and Saint Petersburg-based Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise...

 name.

History

The airline was named after the area where it is located, along with the village of Pulkovo and Pulkovo Observatory. The airline began on 24 June 1932 with the landing of two aircraft from Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 at the newly-constructed Shosseynaya Airport south of Leningrad
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

. Air travel expanded rapidly, and in 1939 Shosseynaya Airport operated 29 routes, carrying 6,305 passengers, 708 tons of cargo, and over 333 tons of mail.

The airport became known as Pulkovo in the late 1950s. The airport complex consists of two separate terminals which are so far away from each other than can they can be classified as separate airports.

Pulkovo Airlines used Aeroflot
Aeroflot
OJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines , commonly known as Aeroflot , is the flag carrier and largest airline of the Russian Federation, based on passengers carried per year...

 livery until ordered to change it in 1997 so to avoid confusion. Pulkovo Airlines joined IATA in June 2000.

As of 2003, it employs about 7,000 workers. In the first half of 2003, it carried 911,563 passengers, of 515,720 were domestic and 395,843 international and CIS flights. It also carried 3,753.6 tons of cargo, of which 3,138.5 was domestic and 615.1 international and CIS (this last was an increase of 34% over the same period in 2002).

Also, in 2006, Pulkovo completed its merger with Rossiya
Rossiya (airline)
Rossiya Airlines OJSC , operating as Rossiya — Russian Airlines is a secondary national airline with its head office in Saint Petersburg, Russia, resulting from the 2006 merger of the Moscow-based company of the same name and Saint Petersburg-based Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise...

. They now operate as one company

Incidents and accidents

  • Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise airliner
    Airliner
    An airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo. Such aircraft are operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an aircraft intended for carrying multiple passengers in commercial...

     IL-86 RA-86060 crashed shortly after takeoff with 16 crew on board, at 3:25pm local time on July 28, 2002, from Moscow
    Moscow
    Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

     Sheremetyevo International Airport
    Sheremetyevo International Airport
    Sheremetyevo International Airport , is an international airport located in the Moscow Oblast, Russia, north-west of central Moscow. It is a hub for the passenger operations of the Russian international airline Aeroflot, and one of the three major airports serving Moscow along with Domodedovo...

     while on a repositioning flight to Saint Petersburg
    Saint Petersburg
    Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

    . Witnesses reported seeing the aircraft enter a steep climb immediately after takeoff, bank left, and crash into a forest near the end of the runway. Initial examination of the aircraft's Digital Flight Data Recorder indicates that, two seconds after liftoff, the plane's horizontal stabilizer spontaneously shifted to a full nose-up position. The Captain immediately pushed the control yoke fully forward in an attempt to lower the aircraft's nose, but was unsuccessful in doing so. Two flight attendants aboard survived.
  • On August 22, 2006, Pulkovo Airlines Flight 612
    Pulkovo Airlines Flight 612
    Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612 was an aircraft that crashed near the Russian border over eastern Ukraine on August 22, 2006, while en route from Vityazevo Airport to Pulkovo Airport...

    , a Tu-154 airliner
    Airliner
    An airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo. Such aircraft are operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an aircraft intended for carrying multiple passengers in commercial...

     with 160 passengers and 10 crew on board en route from Anapa
    Anapa
    Anapa is a town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the northern coast of the Black Sea near the Sea of Azov. It was originally a seaport for the Natkhuay tribe of the Adyghe people. Population: The town boasts a number of sanatoria and hotels...

     to Saint Petersburg
    Saint Petersburg
    Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

    , crashed near Donetsk
    Donetsk
    Donetsk , is a large city in eastern Ukraine on the Kalmius river. Administratively, it is a center of Donetsk Oblast, while historically, it is the unofficial capital and largest city of the economic and cultural Donets Basin region...

     in Ukraine
    Ukraine
    Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

    . The flight crew attempted to navigate through high clouds containing an extremely powerful thunderstorm, but abnormally high ambient temperature had decreased the lift. The aircraft entered an uncontrolled spin and could not recover. Everyone on board died. The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) determined that the causes of the crash were airplane entering a stall condition due to excessive angle of attack and lack of airspeed in manual flight mode due to insufficient control and cooperation among the flight crew members.
    • Victoria Shcherbina (LJ
      LiveJournal
      LiveJournal is a virtual community where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the free and open source server software that was designed to run the LiveJournal virtual community....

       user saint-autere) reacted to the news of the August 22 Tu-154 crash in eastern Ukraine
      Ukraine
      Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

      , which killed all 170 people on board, by writing about the death of her father, IL-86 navigator of Pulkovo Airlines Valery Shcherbin, in a crash at Moscow
      Moscow
      Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

       Sheremetyevo International Airport
      Sheremetyevo International Airport
      Sheremetyevo International Airport , is an international airport located in the Moscow Oblast, Russia, north-west of central Moscow. It is a hub for the passenger operations of the Russian international airline Aeroflot, and one of the three major airports serving Moscow along with Domodedovo...

      four years earlier, on July 28, 2002.

External links

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